Ethan felt like shit, as he sank in and out of consciousness, his head felt like it was on fire, and his body twitched in pain, but he couldn't move, as the blond opened his eyes fully to see a macabre dinner table in front of him, Liliana was still unconscious, and thankfully wasn't bound to a chair like he was. Although the more Ethan looked around the fucked up dining room of the bakers, the more he didn't like what was coming, eying the rotten, and sinister feast of molded meat, beer, and god knows what was plated on the table.
Ethan could feel his arms scraping against the rooms that held him down, as he swayed side to side in his chair until the sounds of footsteps could be heard making the man stop like a deer in headlights, as the door opened as Jack Baker entered the room followed by his wife, their insane son Lucas, and Mia plus what looked like a teenage boy with a bag over his head, as the insane family took their seats at the table ready to feast.
"Grandma, don't go scaring that young girl once she wakes up ya hear!" Marguerite declared, causing Ethan to jump in his seat, at the sight of the nearly dead-looking woman who appeared out of nowhere next to Liliana, and the mysterious teen.
"Ah come on ma! I doubt she'd be any worse than Zoe, besides I doubt these dumbasses will survive for that long!" Lucas said, tossing pieces of food at Liliana, and the bagged teen who began moaning, as he gasped for air underneath the makeshift trash bag mask. Marguerite stood up for a moment, walked over to the teen, proceeding to remove the bag from his head, Ethan could see the teen, panting and gasping for air as if he had been tormented by that mask for a good while. The teen had long silver hair, a yellow shirt, big blue baggy pants with a couple of belts on his sides like he was part of some edgy K-pop phase in his life, and his green eyes were terrified as they dazed across the room until they stopped at Liliana.
"You'd better behave yourself, boy! If you make a peep I'm knocking your ass out again, we're gonna have some more fun!" Jack yelled at the frightened teen, as he got up walking over to Ethan, who was looking for an escape route, or weapon. He had to find a way out, he had to get Liliana out of this place before these psychos hurt any more than they already did.
"Ethan!" Mia moaned, as Ethan quickly snapped to see his ex-wife, her gray skin still flaky, and caked in blood from the attempted murder that Liliana had caused in her attempt to kill the woman. Ethan kept trying to look away from the woman, as part of her skull was caved in, and bits of brain matter, and blood dripped from her open skull, making Ethan wanna vomit. Mia should have died, but she was still alive and healing, letting Ethan at least know that Mia and the family were infected, whatever virus was inside of them had done more than bring them back to life, it had meant them more than human, they were truly monsters worse than the horrors of Raccoon city, and that made Ethan even more worried, the baker's weren't mindless zombies, they were still human some degree.
"Now, Now don't get up sweetie, you're still weak! You need yuh suppa, Marguerite spent all day cooking up this feast, so y'all better eat up, or else Daddy's gonna get mad. You won't like me when I'm mad, or else you're fucked!" Jack declared giggling a little bit at the idea of chasing and killing the newest guest to join his family for dinner. Quickly grabbing a spoonful of shit and attempting to ramp it in Ethan's mouth, causing the man to vomit it out on the table, hacking and groaning in pain feeling the sickening taste of rotten meat, and parts unknown coat the inside of his mouth. But all this act did was piss Jack off, as the man's sinister grin faded rapidly, in instance, Ethan could feel a sharp knife being pressed against his cheek. Lucas Baker got in close to see the craving for the blond's flesh as he bumped into Liliana.
Suddenly, Liliana screamed, as her arms swung rapidly in the air, hitting the table, Lucas, anything in her path. At first, Lucas smiled seeing the utter insanity in front of him, seeing the unconscious teen having the worst night terror possible, and being one second away from Jack decking the living shit out of her, and him making the auburn gal his next plaything. That was until a flash of light came out of Liliana's hands, as two long key-like swords began slicing through the table, and Lucas's right arm like it was made of butter. The swords were odd to everyone in the room except for one, as they watched Liliana swing a blade that was yellow with a silver blade that looked more like a club. Plus a blade that looked like it was made of flowers, and had different colors giving it a feminine quality compared to the club-looking blade.
Ethan could only watch as Liliana's blades got faster, and her screams only grew in agony, she was in pain, and he couldn't do anything about it still being tied up, and surrounded by the bakers as he watched Jack walk up to Liliana and grab her by the hair, and slam her through what was left of the broken table sending dinner crumbling to the floor.
"Boy, you betta start explaining that shit, before I kill this girl for destroying this perfectly good feast!" Jack yelled, grabbing hold of Ethan's neck and slowly choking the man, until the sound of a doorbell started to ring, causing Jack to release his grip and allow Ethan to breathe for a moment, as he walked Lucas grabbed his dismembered arm and Grandma. While Marguerite took Mia, swearing several curse words under her breath that could rival Liliana's foul mouth.
"You three wait right here, I'm gonna come back for y'all real soon!" Jack declared, running out the door, letting Ethan feel a moment of safety as he took another shot at getting out of the chair, thankfully after a few more swings, hitting the ground, breaking the chair with a thud. Quickly Ethan stood up, running over to the teen, untying their bounds, and checking on Liliana.
"Liliana! You gotta wake up please, it's me, Ethan, please wake the fuck up, they're gonna be back at any moment!" Ethan whispered, gently slapping the teen's face, looking at the silver-haired teen grab hold of her hands, rubbing them as if he knew what was going on.
"It's no use, she's fighting for her life in the Station of Awakening, you'll have to carry her until she can fully tap into the power of her keyblades or a step closer to obtaining one. I recommend we move quickly, Jack will be nearby, and I don't wanna be forced to endure another one of their disgusting dinners." Riku said, pulling out a small pocket knife from his pockets and handing it off to Ethan who took it angrily and had a look on his face that screamed this conversation wasn't getting dropped any time soon.
"Kid, the moment we're safe from that madman, you're telling what the hell is going on with Liliana and whatever a keyblade is got it, and please tell me you have something to defend yourself with other than a fucking pocket knife?" Ethan declared grabbing Liliana, and holding her over his left shoulder, as he looked out the door to see if Jack was nearby.
"The name is Riku, and to answer your question I got a weapon! Now let's get to the garbage. I think the family has a vehicle still there?" Riku whispered, running over to the stairs leading to the Baker's garbage, Ethan quickly followed, hearing heavy footsteps echoing in the distance, as he watched Riku pull out a bloody-looking blade of a hacksaw from the inside of his hip pocket that had been made to look like a long bread knife, as he starting cutting throw the yellow tape that was locking the power box to the garbage door.
"We gotta hurry, Jack will be around the corner in a moment, I'll hide in here with Liliana. You need to get the keys from Jack, he'll have them on a table nearby by the door to the main part of the house." Riku whispered, raising the door high enough so Ethan could get Liliana through to safety.
"You want me to play chicken with a fucking psycho! Fine, but he better have the keys, or else, I'm tossing your ass out here, so you can find them!" Ethan said gently placing Liliana inside the garage, with Riku following behind, Ethan held his breath as the sounds of Jack's footsteps made him sound nearby.
"Ethan! Ethan! I know you slipped out before we could finish our little supper. Please come out, I'll only rough you up a little bit, as only the kids are still at the table. They gotta eat, suppa is the most important part of this family, and they need our little girl's gift!" Jack shouted, swinging his shovel freely and letting out a laugh as he walked by the garage, heading into the kitchen and giving Ethan his chance to dash the keys.
—--
Quickly Ethan bolted out of the questionable safety of the group hiding spot in an attempt to get the keys, he had to hurry as he was halfway across the hall spotting what looked like a pair of keys on the nightstand. Suddenly Jack bolted out of the walls like a Southern demonic version of the Kool-Aid man.
"Thought you could slip out before dinner was done after that girl ruined my feast. Boy, you're in for a world of hurt, now you wait there for a moment." Jack declared, as Ethan looked around the wreckage of the storage room that must have been connected to the kitchen he saw a hatch that could get him to someplace safer. Ethan watched Jack walk over to the keys, grab the hatch key, and toss it at his feet.
"There ya go boy, that's the key to the hatch, I know you wanted it, but I'm keeping these keys here. Ya got a nice car, and now you get a choice, run for your life, and pray that I don't find them kids, or run and take me to your hiding spot, and I'll take the silver-haired kid, little Eve has been wanting him ever since he played with that cameraman. So what's ya gonna do, either way, you're all fucked!" Jack said, running towards the blond as Ethan quickly turned around and started running.
Ethan had to hurry, as he held the hatch key tightly in his hand, he had to get to the hatch and give Jack the slip. That monster couldn't get his hands on Liliana and Riku, so Ethan ran, faster than he had ever run before, as he bolted into the kitchen hearing the sounds of Jack's footsteps, the pounding of his shovel hitting the floor and walls, as Ethan bolted to the door, quickly diving onto the floor inserting the key into the hatch lock, and turning it as he pulled on the hatch door, opening it just enough to where he could crawl inside, and hope that Jack wouldn't follow him inside.
"Here's Daddy!" Jack yelled, hitting the kitchen door with his shovel, and breaking the door down. Jack let out a crazed laugh at the sight in front of him, Ethan was faster than he had realized, maybe this outsider would be fun, well almost as much fun as that cameraman or the girl who nearly killed his baby girl.
"Oh, fuck this!" Ethan yelled, crawling into the crawlspace, Jack's laugh echoed in the background as he bolted through the crawlspace, grabbing an interesting coin that was on a lawnmower.
"Have fun down there boy, I'll see ya real soon!" Jack yelled, hitting the floor, as Ethan got hit with dust from every swing that assaulted the old wooden floor of the Baker Estate. Ethan hoped that the floor wasn't gonna give in and let that madman or his weapon get him. The last thing he needed was to die in a crawlspace before he got a chance to save Liliana, or even got to meet Donna. Ethan shook his head, he had to stay positive, he needed to be brave and stop these psychos, it was the only way to make it out of this place alive. So he moved quicker, until he found the exit of the crawlspace, finding himself in what looked like a laundry room full of dust, and black mold.
Ethan took a quick breath, as he heard a phone ringing, looking around he saw a phone on the table, maybe whoever was on the other line could send help, or knew of some way to make this nightmare more bearable before the night turned into Ethan's must-die time. Ethan took a deep breath as he picked up the phone, placing it against his ear, ready to listen to whoever was on the other line.
"I'm impressed Ethan, not many people can outrun Daddy, and keep all their limbs attached! Maybe you and the kids can pull this off." The voice said Ethan could tell they were feminine, and judging by the daddy comment, the person on the other end was the other baker child, Zoe.
"Zoe, what do you mean pulling this off?" Ethan whispered, as the mysterious woman was silent for a minute then started mumbling something to herself.
"Look, Ethan, I can't give you all the details, or put it easily. But my family is infected, I can't leave the property until I can get this sickness out of me. The others are too far gone to be saved, so please Ethan kill my family, it's the only way any of us are gonna survive the night." Zoe said, breaking down over the phone, Ethan could hear the woman crying, breaking something that sounded like a mirror and stabbing something, he could hear her screaming something on the other end.
"Die Eve, just fucking die!" Zoe screamed as Ethan heard the sound of the phone going off leaving him with the sound of silence as the real horrors of his journey were just the beginning.
"That's it, Jack, I'm taking you down, and then it's the rest of your fucking family," Ethan whispered pulling out Riku's pocket knife, as the phone started ringing again, causing the winter's head to jump at the sudden ringing of the phone, he could only hope that Zoe was recalling and that she was gonna be ok. He needed her to be ok mentally if they were gonna tackle her crazy family.
"Zoe, are you ok!" Ethan said, softly into the phone, as the sounds of breathing could be heard on the other side.
"Ethan, I'm glad you're still alive! I hope that Liliana is ok, I can't talk long but know that I got hold of someone who can help you with your problem at the baker's house, so please be strong for me, I love you, my knight in shining armor" the voice said over the phone, making Ethan feel tears run down his face, it was her. The first time he heard her voice, the only one he loved after the disappearance of Mia, it was his mysterious friend to whom he sent countless letters, it was Donna.
"Donna, is that you?" Ethan whispered as he felt his heart rate spike for a minute thinking about the dollmaker on the other end.
"Yes, it's me! Look, Ethan, I don't have much time before the Lord of my village demands for me. Look please save Liliana, she is the only way to save both of us. So please be safe, I'm sorry I gotta go, I'll try and call if I get another chance." Donna whispered, as the phone clicked, making Ethan hang up the phone, his hands started to shake.
"Donna, don't worry I'll get out of this madhouse with Liliana, and then I'm coming for you." Ethan declared, looking around the laundry room and finding a couple of herbs that looked like they were imported from the Arklay Mountains or maybe some crack house from Spain. Either way, he knew that if he was gonna take on Jack, he'd need a gun or maybe whatever those key blade things that Riku mentioned Liliana using in her unconscious state.
"All alright Jack, you want some fun, I'll give you the best time you ever had!" Ethan yelled opening the door ready to face the insane family that laid ahead of him.
—--
Liliana felt like hell, as she opened her eyes, the only thing she could see was a teenager looking at her like she mattered to him. But she didn't know why, but her head was aching, and her heart felt like it had been hit with a fucking hammer. The last thing she could remember was fighting Lucas, and then nothing, it was like her brain couldn't connect the dots or didn't wanna remember seeing something really bad. The only thing she could remember was seeing her islands and her friends. But nothing else was coming to mind. But the silver-haired teen next to her looked familiar, those green eyes sparkled like gems as he looked at her like he cared about her, but his face was a different story. It looked curious like he was studying her for some unknown reason.
Liliana hoped that Ethan was nearby, as she had so many questions, and yet one question still lingered in the back of her mind, who was Rebecca, and why did she feel important to her, and her friends? She didn't know why that name lingered in her mind, maybe she was a friend or Sora's mom. But Liliana knew one thing, someone was gonna fucking die soon.
Author notes: did I give Liliana key blades? Kinda I'll explain more of her journey between chapters in the next chapter.
Did I maybe imply that Rebecca was Sora's mom here, maybe? XD